Fr Cantalamessa gives his fourth Lenten sermon in the Vatican2015-03-27 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) On Friday morning the preacher of the Pontifical Household, Franciscan Father Raniero Cantalamessa gave his fourth Lenten sermon in the Mater Redemptoris chapel in the Vatican.

Here is the full text of his reflections, entitled ‘East and West Before the Mystery of Salvation’

With this meditation we conclude our overview of the common faith of East and West, and we conclude it with what concerns us more directly, the problem of salvation: that is, how Orthodoxy and the Latin world have understood the content of Christian salvation.

This is probably the area in which it is more necessary for us Latins to turn our gaze to the East to enrich, and in part to correct, our prevailing way of conceiving of the redemption accomplished by Christ. We have the good fortune of doing so in this chapel where the work of Christ and the mystery of salvation is presented in the art of Father Marko Rupnik, according to the understanding that the Eastern Church and Byzantine iconography has had of it.

Let us start with a presentation of the different way of understanding salvation by the East and by the West that is found in the Dictionnaire de Spiritualité and which synthesizes the prevailing opinion in theological circles:

The goal of life for Greek Christians is divinization, and for Christians in the West, the attainment of holiness. . . . The Word became flesh, according to the Greeks, to restore to man his likeness to God that was lost through Adam and to divinize him. According to the Latins, he became man to redeem humanity . . . and to pay the debt owed to God’s justice.xvi

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent his condolences upon learning of the death of the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Dinkha IV.

“The Christian world has lost an important spiritual leader, a courageous and wise pastor who faithfully served his community in extremely challenging times,” Pope Francis writes. “His Holiness Mar Dinkha suffered greatly because of the tragic situation in the Middle East, especially in Iraq and in Syria, resolutely calling attention to the plight of our Christian brothers and sisters and other religious minorities suffering daily persecution.”

Pope Francis' solidarity with displaced in Iraq, Nigeria2015-03-27 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has expressed his concern for Christian families and other victims of violence who have been expelled from their homes and villages in Iraq. Tracey McClure has more:

A statement issued Friday by the Holy See’s Press Office says the Pope is particularly concerned about those from Mosul and the Nineveh Plains, many of whom have found refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan. The press statement further says the Holy Father is praying for the victims and hopes that they will soon be able to return to their former lives in their homeland where for centuries they have lived in good relations with their neighbours.The statement ends by saying that Holy Father would also like to express his closeness to suffering families in northern Nigeria. The Holy Father has also asked the local Episcopal Conference to join with him in extending a similar sign of solidarity with those families.

Vatican says UN must act to protect Middle East Christians2015-03-28 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Vatican on Friday told the United Nations Security Council that Christians are facing an “existential fear” in the Middle East.

The Security Council was hosting an open debate on “The victims of attacks and abuses on ethnic or religious grounds in the Middle East”.

Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Permanent ******* of the Holy See to the UN, said urged the international community to do all it can to prevent further victims of attacks and abuses for ethnic and/or religious grounds.

“Faced with the unbearable situation of living in a conflict zone controlled by terrorist and extremist organizations who constantly threaten them with death, and with a deep sense of feeling abandoned to their fate, by the legitimate authorities and the International Community, entire communities of Christians, especially from Northern Iraq, have been brutally forced to flee their homes and they have sought refuge in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and in the neighbouring countries of the region,” said Archbishop Auza.

He called on all “leaders and people of goodwill in the region and throughout the world to act before it’s too late” to prevent genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing and their incitement.

Pope: life of St Teresa of Avila can help renew consecrated life2015-03-28 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said the life of St Teresa of Avila, characterized by “total self-giving to God,” is a “great treasure” that can help to renew consecrated life today.

The pope spoke of the witness of St Teresa in a letter, issued Saturday, to the Superior General of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, Fr Xavier Cannistrà, to mark the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the saint’s birth.

St Teresa of Avila, a Spanish nun and mystic and a reformer of the Carmelite Order, was born 28 March 1515.

Also known as St Teresa of Jesus, her writings are among the classics of Christian spirituality and mysticism. Her most known spiritual work is The Interior Castle. Pope Paul VI named her a Doctor of the Church in 1970.

In his letter to the Carmelite Superior General, the Pope said St Teresa left “a great treasure to renew consecrated life today, full of concrete proposals, ways and methods to pray” that always lead one back to Jesus and “constitute a genuine school to grow in love for God and neighbour.”

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis remembered the persecuted Christians in the world on Sunday – Palm Sunday – during Mass in St. Peter’s Square. Following the proclamation of the Passion according to St. Mark, Pope Francis delivered a homily, in which he reflected on the plight of all those who endure humiliation because of their faithfulness to the Gospel, all those who face discrimination and pay a personal price for their fidelity to Christ.

“We think too of our brothers and sisters who are persecuted because they are Christians,” he said, “the martyrs of our own time.” The Holy Father went on to say, “They refuse to deny Jesus and they endure insult and injury with dignity. They follow Him on His way.”

The reflection came at the end of his brief Palm Sunday homily, which was intensely focused on the way of humility that Christ chose to undertake for our salvation. “This is God’s way, the way of humility,” he said. “It is the way of Jesus; there is no other.”

(Vatican Radio) Following Mass for Palm Sunday in St Peter’s Square, Pope Francis during the Angelus prayed for the victims of the Germanwings air crash on Tuesday which killed 150 people. The Holy Father entrusted them to Mary’s intercession including the group of German students who lost their lives.

The Pope also greeted the young people present for Diocesan World Youth Day urging them to continue on their path of pilgrimage which will, he said, eventually lead you to Krakow in 2016.

The theme for next year’s World Youth Day event is "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy", which Pope Francis noted “fits in well” with upcoming Holy Year of Mercy which begins on December 8.

Gänswein: Pope Francis is Full of Surprises and Some UnpredictabilityMar 29 2015 - 5:18pm

Pope Francis is “full of surprises” and Benedict XVI “follows his successor with great attention and sympathy. He admires his physical and spiritual strength. But he does not comment on his affirmations about having a short pontificate,” according to Archbishop Georg Gänswein, his private secretary.

In an exclusive interview with Elisabetta Piqué for La Nación, the main Argentine daily (links below), Gänswein, who is now Prefect of the Pontifical Household, said he has been “impressed” by Pope Francis in a number of ways:•“From the human aspect: by his capacity for work. In this, he is an extraordinary phenomenon. He works for two, and is 78 years old. And then, the personal attention that he gives to so many people whom he encounters every day.”•“From the spiritual aspect: by his spiritual life of prayer. As is known, he rises very early to meditate and prepare for Holy Mass. The coherence between his very active life and the time he dedicates to prayer is impressive; it is a contemplative life. The Ignatian spirituality is really incarnate in him.”

Pope Francis set to rile Turkey by recalling the Armenian genocide March 30, 2015

ROME — One week after Easter Sunday, Pope Francis is scheduled to celebrate a service in the Armenian Catholic rite to commemorate the 100th anniversary of a mass killing of Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century that the pontiff defined two years ago as the “first genocide of the modern era.”

In a time of mounting anti-Christian violence in various corners of the Middle East, the pope’s act is likely to take on more than merely historical interest.

The April 12 papal liturgy is part of a broader campaign by Armenians to keep the memory of their suffering alive, which will feature the ringing of bells in Armenian churches around the world on April 23 at 19:15 (7:15 p.m.), the hour chosen to symbolically recall the year 1915. Bells will sound everywhere but Turkey, where the small number of churches still in operation will remain silent.

Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee of Mercy: 11 April in St. Peter's Basilica

Vatican City, 31 March 2015 (VIS) – Following the first announcement of the next extraordinary Holy Year by Pope Francis on 13 March, the Holy Father will proceed with the official indiction of the Jubilee of Mercy with the publication of the Bull of Indiction on Saturday 11 April, at 5.30 pm in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The rite of publication will involve the reading of various passages of the Bull before the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica. Pope Francis will subsequently preside at the celebration of First Vespers of Divine Mercy Sunday, thus underlining in a particular way the fundamental theme of the extraordinary Holy Year: God’s Mercy.

The term bull (from the Latin bulla = bubble or, more generally, a rounded object) originally indicated the metal capsule used to protect the wax seal attached with a cord to a document of particular importance, to attest to its authenticity and, as a consequence, its authority. Over time, the term began to be used first to indicate the seal, then the document itself, so that nowadays it is used for all papal documents of special importance that bear, or at least traditionally would have borne, the Pontiff’s seal.

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has named the former President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See, Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, the new Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education.

The Congregation for Catholic Education is responsible for houses of formation of religious and secular institutes; universities, faculties, institutes and higher schools of study, either ecclesial or civil dependent on ecclesial persons; and schools and educational institutes depending on ecclesiastical authorities.

In addition, the Holy Father named Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, Archbishop of Cologne, Germany as a new Member of APSA, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See.

Vatican City -- Some 1,200 formation directors for Catholic religious orders from "every part of the world" will come to Rome next week to take part in a Vatican-hosted conference sharing ideas on how men and women considering religious life should be guided in their discernment.

The conference includes participation of three Vatican congregations and is the latest in a series of events to mark the Year of Consecrated Life, called by Pope Francis and being held through the beginning of 2016.

Among themes the Vatican said will be discussed at the event, to be held April 8-11 at a Roman hotel: how to be "men and women truly free" and how to "mature one's identity to be able to dialogue with all cultures and become ... prophetic sign of welcoming and communion."

The event will begin April 7 with a prayer vigil at the Rome parish of St. Gregory VII and will conclude April 11 with a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, celebrated by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, the prefect of the Vatican's religious congregation.

(Reuters) - Two renegade Catholic bishops plan to consecrate a new generation of bishops to spread their ultra-traditionalist movement called "The Resistance" in defiance of the Vatican, one of them said at a remote monastery in Brazil.

French Bishop Jean-Michel Faure, himself consecrated only two weeks ago by the Holocaust-denying British Bishop Richard Williamson, said the new group rejected Pope Francis and what it called his "new religion" and would not engage in a dialogue with Rome until the Vatican turned back the clock.

Williamson and Faure, who were both excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church when the former made the latter a bishop without Vatican approval, are ex-members of a larger dissenting group that has been a thorn in Rome's side for years.

Their splinter movement is tiny - Faure did not give an estimate of followers - but the fact they plan to consecrate bishops is important because it means their schism can continue as a rebel form of Catholicism.

Pope: The Easter Triduum is the apex of our Christian life2015-04-01 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has urged the faithful to see the signs of the Risen Lord and open their hearts to a "present that is full of the future".

Speaking on Wednesday during the weekly General Audience, the Pope reflected at length on the celebration of the Sacred Triduum which begins on Holy Thursday, and during which we commemorate Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection.

The Easter Triduum – the Pope said – is the apex of our liturgical year and it is also the apex of our lives as Christians.

We begin the Triduum – he continued - by celebrating the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, as we recall Christ’s offering of his body and blood to the Father, which he gave to the Apostles as food for their nourishment, with the command that they perpetually celebrate these mysteries in his memory.

He said we also recall the Lord washing the Apostles’ feet, through which he showed that the “purpose of his life and passion was to serve God and neighbour, a service which we are called to imitate by loving one another as he loved us”.

Addressing Polish pilgrims during the weekly General Audience this morning in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis recognized tomorrow's anniversary of the death of Saint John Paul II.

Noting this is the 10th anniversary of his passing, Francis said, “We remember him as a great Witness of the suffering Christ, dead and risen.”

“We also ask him,” the Pope continued, “to intercede for us, for the families, for the Church, in order that the light of Resurrection shines on all the shadows of our life and fills us with joy and peace.”

Vatican City, 1 April 2015 (VIS) – This morning, in the Secretariat of State, an agreement on fiscal matters was signed by the Holy See and the Italian Republic. It was signed on behalf of the Holy See by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States, and for the Italian Republic by Pier Carlo Padoan, minister of Economics and Finance, with full powers.

The reforms introduced in 2010 and the creation by the Holy See of institutions with specific experience in economics and finance now enable full administrative cooperation, also with regard to fiscal matters. Within the framework of the special importance of bilateral relations, Italy is the first country with which the Holy See has signed an agreement governing the exchange of information.

Pope Francis to priests: Christ is our strength in ministry2015-04-02 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated the Chrism Mass on Thursday morning in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Chrism Mass is the liturgy in which the oils – of the infirm, of the catechumens, and the sacred chrism – are blessed for use in the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders, and Annointing of the Sick, throughout the year. It is also an occasion on which bishops traditionally reflect on the nature of priestly ministry, with the priests of their diocese.http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/04/02/pope_francis_chrism_mass_homily/1133933Pope Francis: Chrism Mass homily2015-04-02 Vatican Radio

Pope Francis arrived on Holy Thursday to the Casa Circondariale Nuovo Complesso Rebibbia, a prison in Rome to celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper.

The Holy Father was greeted by faithful, authorities and a group of prisoners who emotionally embraced him. One prisoner, holding a sign, asked the Pope to bless the image of a deceased loved one. Once blessed, the man tearfully hugged and kissed Pope Francis.

The Mass was held in the prison's "Our Father" Church. As the Holy Father entered, the prisoners were unable to contain their excitement and applauded as the Pope entered in procession.

In his homily, the 78 year old Pontiff reflected on a passage from John's Gospel which he said was at the heart of Jesus' life and death: "He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. (Jn. 13,2).https://twitter.com/FatherRosicaThomas Rosica retweeted Catholic News Svc @CatholicNewsSvc · 10h 10 hours ago Despite solemnity of occasion, ppl can't contain their emotion, joy seeing pope. Ppl clapping, crowding toward him

(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 31 - Pope Francis, like so many men and women in their 70s, is being warned by doctors to eat less pasta, walk more often, and lose a little weight to take some strain off his aching back.

Doctors have told ANSA that the pope, at 78, also has a lot of stress aggravated by intensive travel that sees him pack an agenda so full of events that it would exhaust a person half his age.

Concern about the pope's health was heightened in mid-March when he marked his second anniversary as pontiff with a Mexican television interview in which Francis confessed he suspected his time as pope "will be short".